


Back to the Centra Ruins

by chocobobutt



Series: Strifehart Week 2016 [4]
Category: Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 8, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: F/M, M/M, Strifehart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 12:48:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7845682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chocobobutt/pseuds/chocobobutt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s Strifehart week day 4 already! I can’t believe it! One more day to go and that’s it! I’ve had so much fun so far and I hope you all have too.</p><p>Today’s theme is FF7 or FF8</p><p>I went with FF8 since it’s my personal favorite. I hope I did it enough justice and got as much correct as I could. I haven’t played the game in awhile OTL.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back to the Centra Ruins

Squall hadn't been on a mission in weeks. It was starting to get boring just organizing other SeeD's missions. He wanted to go out, he wanted to have an adventure again. Everyone else was having fun while he was stuck in Balamb. He loved the garden but he needed to get out. Quistis had been out on missions teachings SeeD's, Irvine was on a trip to Galbadia with Selphie, Zell was doing..Zell things and Rinoa was in Timber. Squall was left in charge of the Garden again. It wasn't that he minded it, he liked it actually, even if he often complained. The need for an adventure was strong, even if it would be only a little one.

Feeling a bit rebellious, Squall pulled up the current mission assignments. Almost every easy mission was taken except one. The mission was marked from a man who had claimed Gilgamesh had stolen his weapon and wanted it back. A man wanted to fight a GF and had marked it as an easy mission.

'Is this guy nuts?'

He read more of the description and figured this guy possibly was insane. No wonder no one had taken up this job. There was no reason for a summon to have someone's personal weapon and who would think taking down a GF was easy? even though he knew it was crazy, that craziness was what was attracting Squall's attention to it. He wanted to meet this man. He looked over the name and it seemed familiar but he couldn't remember from where. The meeting place for the mission would be at the Centra Ruins. It wasn't too close and would cause him to possibly be away at least a few days. He couldn't borrow the Ragnarok since that was being used by selphie and Irvine. He'd looked over the mission once more, seeing that this man was from Esthar and had a way to get to the Centra ruins.

'A few days away from here sounds nice though'

With minimal convincing for himself, he decided he would check it out. He accepted the mission, which meant the man who put it up would be alerted of it. Now all he had to do was get to Esthar.

The train ride to Fisherman's Horizon was first and from there he'd catch a train to esthar. It wouldn't take long at all and he even got to sleep a bit during the ride. It was peaceful and the car he was in really wasn't crowded at all. He was woken by a conductor who had passed by and still sleepy from the train he made over to transfer to the next train to Esthar. That ride would be longer and he should have probably stopped to get lunch but didn't.

Esthar's train ride was more crowded and noisy. He couldn't sleep so instead he had pulled out the file he had with him to look over the mission again. He noticed the name again and as he got closer the name finally clicked. 'Cloud', Cloud strife was the man who owned the item shop in Esthar. It was big and well to do but he had actually never met the owner. It made sense to him now, the man was rich and probably had never fought a day in his life.

Squall wasn't sure what he was expecting but once he had arrived at Cloud's shop there was a strange looking man waiting outside it, right in front of the doors. What was strange about him was how he had the weirdest hair Squall had ever seen and yet managed to somehow look attractive with it. The hair looked like the front end or possibly back-end of a chocobo but even spikier. The rest of the man seemed pretty normal though. He had bright blue eyes and was rather muscular, nothing that he had expected from the shop owner.

Squall took a chance and walked over to the other. He wasn't wearing his SeeD uniform as he didn't want to get noticed and so doubted the blonde would think him one. Clearing his throat, Squall looked right at him. "Excuse me sir, are you Cloud Strife?"

The blonde looked over this random man who wore a bit too much leather and crossed his arms, nodding. It was way too warm to be wearing leather, why would anyone dress like that? Don't even get him started on the way too many belts.

"Well, I'm Squall the SeeD who accepted your mission." He took out the file once more and showed it off to Cloud. The blonde took it and crumbled it out, grumbling about something.

Cloud looked up at the taller male and uncrossed his arms. "Listen kid, stop with the formalities and let's just go. You're late and the airship has been running for an hour now."

Well, Squall wasn't expecting that at all but he moved out of Cloud's way. Personally he hated being called kid, especially by someone who looked young and was shorter then him. For now he'd let the rudeness slid but if the man kept it up he'd say something, after all a SeeD had to be polite. "Lead the way, Mr. Strife."

The ride over to the airship carrier was weird. They had to stay close on the transports and with Cloud being as silent as him it was very awkward. Getting into the airship was even more awkward. The ship was massive and a rusted silver from use. It was way too big for a private ship and yet here it was. This thing had to eclipse the Ragnarok. He assumed that Cloud was going to need help flying it but he didn't. The blonde pretty much took the wheel on his own, Squall was impressed.

"I've kept it quiet but I have to ask, how did you afford this?" Squall just had to ask as they started to head off to the ruins. With an airship they'd get there fast, maybe this trip wouldn't be so bad.

“My uncle built this. He owned the shop originally and gave it to me a few years ago. Already owned the C so I just replaced a few other letters.” Cloud shrugged at that and kept his eyes on the horizon. There was an intense look from him as he watched, almost like if he looked away there would be a problem.

“I’m...well I don’t really have too many words. I’m impressed.” Squall walked around to the lower section of the ship and turned to look down a hallway. It seemed to never end, it really was huge. Silver eyes looked up at Cloud, examining him more. This man before him was a character, everything about him was unexpected. Cloud was catching his interests and he wanted to know more now. He went up the stairs, keeping his eyes on the blonde and went by his side. “You aren’t what I thought you’d be.”

‘You’re different....I want to know more.’

“Oh yeah?” Cloud said as he looked over at Squall quickly before looking back at the horizon. “Won’t lie, I’m glad you accepted. I read the papers, I know your Balamb’s commander.” He said with a bit of a smirk.

Squall’s eyes widened a bit and he crossed his arms. Cloud had done his homework it seemed and now the blonde knew more about him then he did of Cloud.

‘That’s not fair at all…’

“Tell me about you then, since you know about me.” The words seemed to come out of Squall’s mouth before he could stop them. His face flushed a bit at that mishap.

“Curiosity killed the lion” Cloud said with a bit of a chuckle which earned him a grumble from Squall. He did seem to relax a little bit and seemed to actually think about telling Squall something. “I never knew my parents. My uncle Cid raised me. I used to help in the shop when I was younger so he gave it to me when I turned twenty. He wanted to retire so he could focus on building things. That was only two years ago.”

Cloud was twenty two, that meant he was four years older than him but didn’t look it at all. He looked maybe 18 at most with that baby face of his.

‘Does he have freckles?....cute.’

‘No wait..not cute.’

“You’re dating that Rinoa girl right? Poster boy for SeeD, has a pretty girl, saved the world, ya did it all didn’t you?” Cloud looked over again, clicking a button that would put the ship temporarily on autopilot.

“Was dating.” Squall had corrected but didn’t say anymore on it, Cloud didn’t ask. The two had stayed in silence after that for a bit, Cloud looking at the ground and Squall at the horizon before them. It wouldn’t be long before they were at the ruins.

After a bit Cloud finally moved and turned autopilot off and took control again. He fake coughed and spoke once more. “Wanna talk about it? I won’t take it to the tabloids. I don’t really care for that stuff and you look like you could use a nice little chat.”

Oddly enough, Squall wanted and felt like he could believe Cloud. They hardly knew each other, there was no reason for him to trust Cloud and yet he felt he could. It was almost scary to feel that way with a stranger, he never took so easily to strangers, not even to Rinoa who he had thought was his everything. “She went back to Timber to try and fix it a bit after what happened. She’s been going all over the place trying to help people and..we’ve been distant. I don’t know if we are still together.”

‘I miss her but I don’t even know if she still thinks of me like I think of her.’

Cloud frowned a bit at the story and tried to think of something hopeful to say. “Well, sometimes when your separated the heart grows fonder. Maybe when she comes back to Balamb she’ll throw her arms around you and tell you she missed you...or something.” To Cloud’s surprise, his words had actually made Squall feel a little better.

“...thanks..”

Luckily this conversation was going to end as they had arrived already at the ruins. It was nice to have a high speed airships for things like this. The take off had been easy on them but Cloud didn’t seem to be the best at landing the ship and it landed with a little bit of a ‘bang’ onto the ground below the geometric ruins. “Sorry...still getting the hang of the landing bit.” Cloud said with a little shrug and went to exit, letting Squall follow behind him.

“You know, when I met Gilgamesh he saved me and my team in a fight. It’s going to be weird to fight him for a weapon.” Squall had said as he followed Cloud out. The ruins were just how he remembered them and were just as creepy and weird. This hadn’t been where he had first encountered Gilgamesh but then again the GF did like to randomly appear at places. “You sure he is here?”

“Positive. Everyday around this time he passes by. I was here with Cid awhile ago and lost my sword. When I came back it was gone and I had seen him with it. I’m getting my sword back.” The determination in Cloud’s voice was strong and he went over to a part of the stone statue and sat, looking out at the plains before them.

Squall still didn’t really believe the story at all but it was his job to check and complete the mission if it was real. They had stayed there for what felt like forever but had only been an hour before a strange swirling of clouds started to happen and then a familiar portal appeared. Squall really couldn’t believe it. It really was the many armed GF clad in red. Gilgamesh stalked out of the portal,a bit bigger than he had last remembered him. He started to walk towards them and noticed the ship and then Cloud.

“We meet again it seems.” The GF’s voice seemed to reverberate against the surroundings and squall could feel those vibrations in his very being. This wasn’t going to end well.

“I’ll come here everyday until I get my sword back.” Cloud stood up and got into an odd stance, holding his hands out and casting thundaga near the GF, trying to threaten him. Maybe Cloud really was crazy like he had initially thought.

“You have no weapon. What are you thinking?” Squall said as he ran over to Cloud and stood before him, gunblade now drawn. Even if this was crazy, he wasn’t going to fail a mission.

“I remember you.” Gilgamesh was sizing him up now and Squall didn’t like that. He had seen what the GF had done to Seifer before and to monsters and he really didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that.

Each of the hands reached behind him a drew a weapon. Cloud’s eyes widened when the top most hand held his blade, the rather large buster sword. “There it is! The top one!”

“That large butcher’s knife?”

‘How is that a sword?!’

Cloud pushed Squall forward and then went back towards the ship. “Yes! Just get it back!” He went around the statue to watch from a safer distance. Squall had growled at the touch and really wanted to turn around and push Cloud towards him instead for a moment but did as he was told. Damn his want to be a good SeeD.

“I see there are two fools here.” Gilgamesh proclaimed as the battle started. The swords came at him one after another and all squall could really do was dodge and roll off to the side for protection. There was no way one person could take on those many weapons at a time. Another couple of swipes came after him and came a bit too close this time. This was bad.

The whole time Cloud was watching he kept his eyes more on the blade. There was a turn of the way Gilgamesh held the blade and the other side was shown. Kanji was painted onto it, big black kanji that read ‘Fake’ Cloud’s eyes widened in shock and he ran towards Squall. There was no way he was going to let the kid die over a fake. That wasn’t his buster sword and while he was upset that it wasn’t his and was still lost, the kid was more important. Cloud had managed to knock Squall out of the way of a bad attack with a tackle to the ground and covered him with his own body. He cast a protect over himself and Squall and quickly picked the other man up and ran as fast as he could with Squall in his arms back to the airship. Squall was amazed at Cloud’s strength in carry him and had no idea what was happening. “Your sword!”

“Screw it. It’s a fake. Let’s get the hell out of here.” Cloud said as they made it back to the ship and once inside he dropped Squall to run up to start it.

Squall had fallen right on his ass with a thud and rubbed at it a bit as he stood up only to stumble as he felt the ship move rather shakily away. He hurried over to the large glass windows in the front once he got his footing and saw Gilgamesh hadn’t even chased after him. He probably figured they were too weak to go against him anyway. The mission was a complete bust. That’s when Cloud’s words before seemed to finally sink in and he turned his eyes on the blonde. “You had me attack Giglamesh….for a ‘fake’ sword?”

Cloud looked down at Squall from his higher spot on the ship, a hint of worry in those blue eyes. “Hey I’d never seen the other side of it. I really thought it was mine okay!”

‘I can’t believe this. I can’t believe I thought he was even remotely sane.’

“Take me back to Balamb. I don’t want to waste anymore time away from there.” Squall ordered and turned his back on the blonde, arms crossed.

Cloud was going to argue with him but chose to ignore it and changed the trajectory of the airship and put it on autopilot again. By the time they had passed over the train from Fisherman’s horizon to Esthar, the sun had almost set and the higher you looked the darker it got, a few stars already in the sky.

Cloud had gone below deck awhile ago and came back with two hot mugs, one with tea and one with coffee. Squall hadn’t moved from his last spot even though his legs were starting to hurt. “Hey...I got you coffee..I didn’t know what you like so I put a bit of milk and sugar in it.” Cloud was trying to make it up for the horrible mission in the only way he really knew how.

Squall turned to look at the hot drink, having smelt it before Cloud had even reached him and took it, not saying a word. “I’m still paying you for coming. I’ll even throw in a little coupon for the shop if you ever want to stop by one day.” Cloud said before taking a sip of his tea.

“Whatever.” Was Squall’s only reply. Despite his annoyance at the other, at least he made a nice cup of coffee and he’d savor it for the amount of time they had left before reaching the Garden.

“Even if we didn’t find my sword...it was kinda a nice short adventure…” Cloud was still trying to make small talk even though he knew he was failing at it. “Well..we should be there soon..”He drank more of his tea and then sighed, getting frustrated and going back to take control of the ship.

When they arrived at the Garden, Cloud had brought the ship in for a bit of a nicer landing and headed over to the exit. He stood against the wall of the ship with his arms crossed as Squall finally came by with his things and ready to go home. “Here.” Cloud said as he held out a little envelope to Squall. He took it and then gave Cloud a little nod of his head before leaving. He was still to upset to talk to him.

That was how they had ended things. Squall hadn’t opened the envelope when he got back to his room. All he did was collapse on the bed, kick his boots and jacket off and laid face first into his pillow. The envelope hadn’t been open for a few days. When he finally opened it there was the gil that came with the mission, the coupon Cloud had spoke of and a thick letter. He pulled that out and when he opened it a card fell out. It was a triple triad card of a chicobo. Squall had one already but was surprised to see it there. He looked it over and noticed it was used. He looked over at the letter and started to read it.

‘Damn he has bad handwriting.’

Squall,

Sorry. It’s really all I can say. I had thought this would have gone better. President Loire had been the one to tell me to contact SeeD and that you might take the mission. He said you were the best and could do it. He is always coming into my shop. The man is so annoying but he always talks about you. I guess it was cool to finally meet you. So again sorry I guess.

-Cloud

I was told you like triple triad. If you ever feel like you wanna take your anger out on me, come play me. I’ll even let you use my favorite card.

Squall read over the letter more than once. He kept looking from the letter to the card. A little grin came over him as he once more looked at the chicobo card. Maybe he would pay Cloud another visit soon.


End file.
